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Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 (2020)
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Baldur's Gate 3 was originally revealed with a CGI trailer at a conference for the Google Stadia cloud gaming service in June 2019 as part of an Early Access exclusivity deal that would ultimately be cancelled when Stadia was shut down in 2023. The game's director Swen Vincke touted the service at the time for its purported accessibility, and the potential for in-game community feedback to directly affect the game's development and playthroughs via Stadia's Crowd Choice feature. However, Vincke later expressed regret over having the game be revealed this way, calling it "a really stupid deal" due to the challenges of releasing an Early Access build to a second platform, but that "it allowed me to pay for the CGI."
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Advertisement/Commercial, Cancelled Release, Complaint, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, General, Trade Show
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month March 29, 2024
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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2005)
subdirectory_arrow_right Gyakuten Saiban (Game)
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One early idea for the game involved Phoenix Wright being an anthropomorphic hamster character. Later versions of the character would give him a hamster as a pet, but this was ultimately cut in the final release.
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea
person Kirby Inhales Jotaro calendar_month December 17, 2023
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Tekken 7
Tekken 7 (2015)
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Development, Early Idea, Inspiration, Politics, Real Life, Unused Character
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month December 14, 2023
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Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario Bros. Wonder (2023)
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One scrapped idea for a Wonder Flower transformation was an eight-heads-tall, life-size, live-action version of Mario that hummed to the background music and exclaimed "Boing" when jumping. This idea was pitched by series composer Koji Kondo, but was scrapped due to it being "hard to see the connection between pre-Wonder effect and during Wonder effect. And it's hard to imagine the gameplay changing much by having Mario turn into a live-action, human proportion version of himself." However, this did end up leading to the Sound Off? badge being created to keep the voice sound effects idea in the game. Incidentally, Kondo provided the voice acting for all of the sound effects included while wearing the badge.
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Development, Early Idea, Inspiration, Music, Real Life, Voice Acting
person NintendOtaku calendar_month October 19, 2023
comment Comment (1) | Source
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Mortal Kombat 1
Mortal Kombat 1 (2023)
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Ed Boon revealed that he had hoped to include John Wick from the franchise of the same name as a guest character in Mortal Kombat 1, but that said plans didn't work out. While the exact reason why is unknown, it's worth noting that John Wick's actor Keanu Reeves had said in 2021 that he did not think the character was a good fit for the Mortal Kombat series.
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Development, Early Idea, Real Life, Unused Character
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month September 27, 2023
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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Attachment Ben Hurst, one of the writers for the 1993 "Sonic the Hedgehog" animated series, attempted to pitch a continuation of the show to Sega in 2002 as either a third season or a movie. He consulted DiC Entertainment, who produced the show (as well as two other Sonic cartoons, "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog" and "Sonic Underground"), and was given the name of a Sega executive who wanted to talk with him more about the idea. Hurst then received a call from Ken Penders, at the time the head writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics, who had been made aware of Hurst's interest in making a movie based on the series. Hurst offered to include Penders in the project, and told him his strategy for the pitch was to develop a satisfying storyline to conclude the show, and simultaneously giving Sega ideas for new games. This resulted in a long-standing controversy where Hurst claimed that Penders sabotaged his plan by telling Sega that he was trying to co-opt the franchise, resulting in Hurst's dismissal from the project. Over 13 years after Hurst's death, Penders would give his side of the story in a 2023 blog post, claiming that Hurst's joint proposal between the two would involve asking Sega to pay them to produce the series, and doubted that Sega would even schedule a meeting to let them pitch it if Sega funding the pitch was the premise, stating that "the owner of any IP is looking for a payday when it comes to using the rights for their properties."

In September 2003, Penders pitched his own concept for a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, titled "Sonic Armageddon". Four pieces of concept art were produced, and even a homemade pitch video was made to show to Sega executives. From what is known about the pitch (which seemed to borrow elements from both the 1993 series and the Archie comics), it would have involved the planet Mobius being destroyed and changed the depiction of the roboticization procedure to something much more gruesome than what had been previously seen. Notably, several major characters (such as the Freedom Fighters sans Sonic, Tails and Sally) are not shown in either the pitch video or the concept art, and the characters that are shown are given major redesigns. A common belief is that DreamWorks Animation was Penders' choice to produce the film, but Penders would later state in 2019 that he had pitched the idea to Sega only, and that DreamWorks had no involvement. The film never materialized; Penders would later claim on separate occasions that the idea was dropped because of "massive corporate upheaval", as well as the development of the animated series "Sonic X" affecting talks regarding the film.
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Backstory/Lore, Cancelled Release, Character Design, Corporate Affairs, Development, Early Idea, General, Misconception, Multimedia Adaptation, Pitch Bible/Proposal, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month April 6, 2024
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Franchise: Angry Birds
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During development of "The Angry Birds Movie 2", it was decided to break away from the original source material by having the birds and the pigs end their conflict and team up against a greater threat. This was done both in an effort to surprise audiences with a new experience involving the same characters, and as part of an attempt to outdo what was done in the first film thanks to the unprecedented level of freedom that the change made available to them. According to actor Josh Gad, the production team went forward with it not only because they thought the idea was "ingenious", but also because it would be most appropriate given the increasingly polarized political climate at the time, stating:

"The movie has some amazing messaging in it, not the least of which is overcoming differences with people you disagree with in order to find a common ground, which I think speaks to a lot of issues we’re dealing with right now."

While not explicitly stated, it's speculated that this change in the story may have also been made in response to theories that its preceding film, "The Angry Birds Movie", contained thinly-veiled political and anti-immigration undertones as an allegory on the European refugee crisis, most notably with the portrayal of the pigs being unintentionally similar to Arab and Muslim terrorist stereotypes. However, it is not likely this was intended by the film's producers as the pigs were actually inspired by the 2009 swine flu epidemic during the original game's development, on top of there being antagonistic, invasive, and explosives-based elements in the pigs and their weaponry dating back to the first game that are crucial to the series' gameplay and story concept, albeit in a less developed state than they are shown in the film.
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Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Idea, General, Multimedia Adaptation, Politics, Real Life, Theory
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month March 16, 2024
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Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
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Tetsuya Nomura had requested for the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to be used in Kingdom Hearts III, but Disney responded that he would be "too difficult" to use, though they never clarified why. While his plans for Oswald had he been added to the game are unknown, it's worth noting that Nomura has admitted that Oswald is one of his favorite Disney characters.
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Crossover, Development, Early Idea, General, Real Life, Unused Character
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month February 22, 2024
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Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64 (1997)
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Attachment An earlier logo for Star Fox 64 found within the 2020 Nintendo Gigaleak seems to indicate that its subtitle was, at one point, going to be "The Cosmic Crisis".
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Development, Early Idea, Name Change, Title, Unused Graphic
person Dinoman96 calendar_month January 28, 2024
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Star Fox
Star Fox (1993)
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment During the development of the original Star Fox, character designer Takaya Imamura originally wanted to make the characters generic humans and aliens, similar to his character designs from F-Zero. It was Shigeru Miyamoto who convinced him to instead make them anthropomorphic animals, as he wanted the game's aesthetic to stand out from every other science fiction property coming out at the time.

Fox in particular being a fox was inspired by the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine located near Nintendo's offices.
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Character Design, Development, Early Idea, Inspiration
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 28, 2023
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Iwata Asks - Star Fox 64 3D:
https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/starfox/0/2/

2002 Nintendo Dream interview with Takaya Imamura on Star Fox Adventures:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxadventures/

2002 Nintendo Official Magazine interview with Takaya Imamura:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030416023122/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0210/fox_03/page03.html

English translations of above NOM interview:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/18rek3h/just_throwing_out_a_translation_of_this_old/

Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 1: Star Fox + Star Fox 2:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2017/September/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-SNES-developer-interview-Volume-1-Star-Fox-Star-Fox-2-1273086.html
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon (1993)
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Cheat, Development, Early Idea, Removed Feature, Unused Graphic
person VinchVolt calendar_month December 21, 2023
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The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Bishoujo_Senshi_Sailor_Moon_(SNES)#Body_Model

Excerpt from a Twitter thread translating posts from a hashtag where Japanese developers share their contributions to old games:
https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1517753335373254657
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (2012)
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While the game's Project Giana Kickstarter campaign was active, voice actress Cristina Vee went to Black Forest Games' forums and offered to voice Giana for the game. While her offer was considered, voice actress Katie Leigh got the role instead.
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Celebrity, Credits, Crowdfunding Campaign, Development, Early Idea, Real Life, Voice Acting
person GianaSistersFan64 calendar_month December 18, 2023
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Giana Sisters DS
Giana Sisters DS (2009)
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According to level designer and artist Alex "Pikomi" Pierschel, since Giana Sisters DS lacks a multiplayer mode, Giana's sister Maria couldn't be playable or even appear in the game, and revealed that Punk Giana took her place.
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Development, Early Idea, Unused Character
person GianaSistersFan64 calendar_month December 17, 2023
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Sonic Underground
Sonic Underground (2000)
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The story section of Sonic Underground's manual has numerous inconsistencies with the plot of the show it's based on, though are still featured in early production documents. These include:

• Robotnik at one point being referred to as "Sheriff Robotnik", likely a reference to the Sheriff of Nottingham from the legend of Robin Hood. He does not bare this title in the show itself; early leaks to the show's plot prior to release also reference his role as a sheriff, suggesting it was a scrapped concept from early on in development.
• The Oracle of Delphius being banished to the Frozen Wastes by Robotnik and passing away from unknown causes sometime after, telling Sonic how to reunite with his siblings in his dying breath. While the Oracle does take up residence in Ice Cap in the final show, he was not banished there, nor does he ever die.
• The Medallions being stated to be golden, but in the final show they bare a more silver coloration. Another detail stated in the manual but not in the final show is that they each possess three notes engraved into them.
• Robotnik's given motive for finding Queen Aleena is so that he can marry her and make her his consort, as he believes that by doing so he can become the rightful ruler of Mobius. While not his overall motive in the final show, the episode "Wedding Bell Blues" did use a similar premise for its plot.
• While not in early production documents, the game's manual states that it ends with Sonic, Manic and Sonia reuniting with their mother, which never actually happened in the original show, making it the only piece of Sonic Underground-related media where this goal is actually accomplished.
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Adaptation, Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Idea, General, Manual, Mistake, Pitch Bible/Proposal, Reference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 15, 2023
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Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 (2001)
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In a 2001 interview featured in the Capcom vs. SNK 2 Another Play Guide, it was revealed that the team wanted to include Linn Kurosawa from Alien vs. Predator as a playable character, but that they couldn't do it due to copyright issues. Because of this, they went with Maki from Final Fight 2 instead.

At another point, they considered giving Maki a moveset identical to the one Linn has, but eventually decided against it, instead giving her a moveset that more closely matches the one she had in her debut game.
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Copyright, Development, Early Idea, Moveset, Unused Character
person ZpaceJ0ck0 calendar_month November 26, 2023
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The Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail (1971)
subdirectory_arrow_right The Oregon Trail (Game)
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When The Oregon Trail was first being tested with 12-to-14 year olds at the Carlton College, the school faculty reacted negatively to offensive portrayals of Native American people in the game as tomahawk-wielding savages inspired by cowboy movies. While the developers of the game were initially offended by the prospect of changing the depiction, they eventually realized it was the right thing to do after questioning how an indigenous descendant would react to having to fight members of their race in the game.
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Censorship, Development, Early Idea, Race, Real Life, Test, Unused Character, Unused Text
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 17, 2023
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Drawn to Life
Drawn to Life (2007)
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Mari's name was originally Mayonnaise.
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Development, Early Idea, Name Change
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month November 13, 2023
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Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment Shigeru Miyamoto had actually teased the existence of Star Fox Adventures at least an entire year before its actual announcement at E3 2001. In an interview with Miyamoto in a February 2000 issue of 64 Dream (so several months before Dinosaur Planet was revealed at E3 2000 that year), he had mentioned that, while a sequel to Star Fox 64 was not currently in development, he'd like to make a game titled "Star Fox Adventures" for the then-coming GameCube. Similarly, in an interview with Miyamoto at E3 2000, when asked about how he felt about Rare's recently unveiled Dinosaur Planet, he had this to say:

"It looks really nice, doesn't it? I wish they would use Star Fox characters so that they could use the title Star Fox Adventures. Maybe I should call the team and talk about it [laughs]."


Further interviews reveal Star Fox Adventures' origins indeed actually came from within Nintendo in Kyoto, Japan, even before Rare and Dinosaur Planet were involved. Towards the end of the Nintendo 64's lifecycle, Takaya Imamura, who had created Fox McCloud and had been heavily involved with the series since the first game, had begged Miyamoto to let him work on the Star Fox series again. Miyamoto obliged, but had requested for Imamura to instead create an action-adventure title starring Fox as the main character as opposed to a traditional arcade shooter in the vein of Star Fox on the SNES or Star Fox 64. This led Imamura and other Nintendo staff like Kazuaki Morita to begin experimenting with various ideas, like having Fox run around on-foot and shooting down enemies with a gun.

However, with it being a late-stage N64 title, the project was not making much progress as many of the staff were being pulled away to work on bigger projects for the then-upcoming GameCube such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda. This was when Miyamoto noticed Rare was making their own action-adventure game starring Star Fox-esque characters known as Dinosaur Planet. Impressed by their demo at E3, he and other Nintendo staff arranged a meeting with Rare employees to discuss the prospects of merging their similar projects into one, and from there the game that today would be known as Star Fox Adventures would be born.
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Development, Early Idea, General
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 28, 2023
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Shigeru Miyamoto teasing "Star Fox Adventures" in a February 2000 issue of 64 Dream:
https://archive.org/details/64-dream-february-2000-02-600dpi-ozidual/64Dream%202000%2002%20%28J%20OCR%29/page/n91/mode/2up

Miyamoto discussing Dinosaur Planet and the prospects of renaming it "Star Fox Adventures" at E3 2000:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/06/06/interview-miyamoto-and-aonuma

Nintendo Japanese website Star Fox Adventures interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070705035402/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0210/fox_03/index.html

English translations of above NOM interview:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/18rek3h/just_throwing_out_a_translation_of_this_old/

Nintendo Dream interview:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxadventures/

2001 article on shift from Dinosaur Planet to Star Fox Adventures:
https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/5981/rare-explains-star-fox-adventures

Article by Kev Bayliss on a leaked build of Dinosaur Planet:
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/opinion/dinosaur-planet-leak/
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (2010)
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Attachment Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was originally going to be a mobile exclusive game under the title "Sonic the Portable" before being made into a cross platform game marketed as a sequel to the classic trilogy on the Genesis. This name remains left in the game in Carnival Street Zone where it is displayed on the ferris wheel in the level background on a blurred out neon sign.
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Development, Early Idea, Leftover
person BlueStaggo calendar_month October 27, 2023
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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
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Attachment Among files uncovered in the Gigaleak, a large-scale leak of assets from Nintendo's internal servers in 2020, are various assets from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island depicting alternate ideas for Baby Mario. The earliest of these assets are a series of sprites from October 1993 depicting him in a bonnet and with a mustache similar to his adult counterpart; by comparison, the earliest sprites depicting his final design are dated to August 1994.

In the interim, however, Nintendo apparently considered omitting Baby Mario entirely; sprites dating to the spring of 1994 show that the developers considered having the Yoshi Clan ferry an infant wizard around instead. These sprites depict the wizard both in normal gameplay and in the pre-rendered CGI graphics used in the opening cutscene. Other sprites of the wizard show that they would've provided an in-universe reason for Yoshi's ability to transform into various vehicles: the wizard would cast a spell on a Yoshi egg while encasing themself and the real Yoshi in a bubble.

While the developers ultimately went back to using Baby Mario, the wizard still appears in a prototype build from December 6, 1994. In this iteration, the wizard is a form that Baby Mario can turn into through the use of an item depicting the projectiles fired by Kamek in the penultimate area of "6-8: King Bowser's Castle". This "Wizard Mario" form could similarly cast spells that transform certain enemies into objects such as eggs, watermelons, and Winged Clouds.
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Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Unused Graphic
person VinchVolt calendar_month October 27, 2023
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